OC Health Officials Report Jump In COVID-19 Hospitalizations; Cases Surpass 80K
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — COVID-19 patients continued to stream into Orange County's hospitals Wednesday as health officials reported 41 more patients than the previous day,
Of the patients hospitalized, 13 were admitted to intensive care units, a trend that is close to matching peak rates in July.
Hospitalizations jumped from 648 on Tuesday to 689 on Wednesday, with the number of patients in intensive care climbing from 158 to 171. On Monday, there were 605 hospitalized in county medical centers, with 146 in ICUs.
Health officials also reported 1,208 new coronavirus cases and one additional fatality Wednesday.
The new numbers brought the county's caseload to 80,551 and the death toll remained unchanged at 1,578.
"In the last two days, we've picked up 84 in hospitals," said Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine associate professor of population health and disease prevention. "That's like a 50% increase. It's getting worse before our very eyes."
"We can't take much more than the 722 we had in July," Noymer said. "It's going to get worse is the problem. It's going to exceed 722. We're pushing into unknown territory," Noymer said.
The 722 peak in hospitalizations was on July 14.
The last time hospitalization rates were this high was July 25 when 687 people were in Orange County hospitals. The last time ICU rates were this high was Aug. 1.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
